No, not my name. ;^)
Coming out in a different way, by revealing something personal about myself. Something that is “not a choice. It’s not a lifestyle. It’s an orientation.” No, not that either. I mean the fact that I am an introvert. I’m sure I’ve said here before that I am an INTP, or Architect, which means my personality type is introverted. And the point of that is simply as a preamble to this: everyone who knows me in real life and thinks there’s something wrong with me needs to go and read “Caring for Your Introvert,” especially if you’re an “E”. Go on, get.
Now that they’re gone, I need to say that anyone who has an introvert in their life will do well to read this one. Some of you may just shake your heads and not get it, but I chuckled out loud and did a lot of nodding. Finally, someone who groks it. I suppose that Jim would grok this too, since he’s the one who pointed me to the aforementioned article.
Thanks for the link.
The Atlantic article came along at just the right time when I first stumbled on it. I was working for THE classic extrovert, and he was starting to drive me a little crazy (and how do you tell your boss to, um, let’s use “go away” as a polite phrase?) I had him read the article and after that he was (a bit) better about letting me out of all the forced socializing that he seemed to enjoy so much. I’d still get the invite, and to be a “team player” I’d still go once in a while, but I didn’t have to go EVERY time, and I didn’t have to explain myself when I didn’t.
Thanks for this … as a woman who is an introvert it’s nice to see some recognition for the cause. ;-)
Great article! I’m in introvert, too. Now, if I could just get my preschoolers to understand … I think the formula of two hours alone for one socializing must translate to five hours alone for every one of small children saying “Mommy, mommy, mommy” and crawling all over you. I guess I’ll catch up on that alone time sometime around 2025!
Introverts of the world, unite? Well, not at my place…
Brilliant article. I’ll probably be linking to it.
just printed out the article.
i think i’ll make about 6 copies and paper the door of the study with them. then lock it.
As an introvert, I laughed and nodded as I read the article as well.
However, it’s perhaps not written in the most gracious voice at times. In fact, it needlessly puts down extroverts at times when describing differences between us. Ironically, extroverts are likely to read some arrogance into the paragraph that attempts to persuade them that we are generally not arrogant people.
“Are introverts arrogant? Hardly. I suppose this common misconception has to do with our being more intelligent, more reflective, more independent, more level-headed, more refined, and more sensitive than extroverts.”
Introverts are more intelligent than extroverts? More refined? And that’s not arrogant? Yikes!
Because of the tone of the article in spots (like the above), I honestly doubt having extroverts read this article will help them to understand (or appreciate) us one iota.
Having said all that, I really liked what Jim wrote near the end of his post:
“Perhaps God’s challenge here is for both introverts and extroverts. We introverts are commanded to get out there and mingle – actively care for, love and interact with others – whether it’s natural for us or not. Just do it. And you extroverts are told there are times when you must go be by yourself, stop talking and sit still to know God.”
To me, that’s seems to be a balanced view. As an introvert, I need to consciously work at being outwardly loving and kind to others, even just conversing with others. Because it doesn’t come naturally doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with me – it’s just the way it is. But the fact is, I still need to actually do those things.
Mike
I like this part:
“a minority in the regular population but a majority in the gifted population.”
Count me in!
Yeah well . . . my gifted intelligence is (and always was) limited to the maths and sciences – I was only marginally smarter than average in high school English ;-)
We actually had a really good discussion on this article last night with a group of folks… got to talking about enneagrams and all sorts of stuff. I think that even with IQ measurement, a person’s intelligence is generally strongest in one area, so two people with very different math or language skills could still have a similar IQ based on the fact that they just excel in different types of intelligence. I may not be explaining that well, but the human psyche is definitely interesting stuff. Especially to us “I”‘s, who think about it more! ;^)